LDP, Komeito plan Noda censure

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will face a censure motion from major opposition parties before the current Diet session ends early next month, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party said Saturday.

“We will discuss the matter (this week). But we are supposed to submit it” to the Upper House, Sadakazu Tanigaki said on a TV program.

The LDP and its opposition ally, New Komeito, are likely to jointly submit the censure motion against Noda, head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, on Wednesday.

The opposition parties are looking at the move because Noda has failed to clarify when he will dissolve the Lower House and call a snap election despite his promise to do so “soon.”

During a Lower House committee session Friday, the DPJ endorsed a bill to allow the government to issue deficit-covering bonds for fiscal 2012. The move angered the LDP and New Komeito, which skipped the vote.

The censure motion is expected to be approved by the opposition-controlled Upper House, fueling further confrontations with the ruling camp as the Sept. 8 end of the Diet session nears.

Sources said the LDP will decide an executive meeting Monday to censure Noda. The party is also considering submitting a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet to the Lower House.

Because the LDP is expected to boycott Diet deliberations on all bills sponsored by the DPJ after the censure motion is submitted, it is possible the deficit-covering bond bill will be scrapped.

But the LDP could offer to cooperate to get the bill passed in the extra Diet session that starts in October in return for a promise by Noda to dissolve the Lower House. He earlier indicated to Tanigaki that he wants to hold the election in November. The LDP chief wants it held sooner.